From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Sat Jul 05 2008 - 17:30:06 EDT
UIC push Ethiopians back home
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:58:57
The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) fighters have forced a group of
recently-arrived Ethiopian soldiers into a retreat from Somalia.
A PressTv correspondent reported that the fighters slaughtered 33 of the
soldiers and destroyed three of their military vehicles after the troops
crossed the common border to join the Somali military.
One UIC soldier also died during the fighting which took place in the
Jawiil region near the Somali-Ethiopian border, said one local Sheikh
Abdirahim Isse Addow.
Most of the soldiers were killed stepping on landmines. Unlike Ugandan
and Burundi regiments there, the troops apparently lacked the beep alarm
system that activates upon approaching landmines seeded every 10 meters
in the area.
Also contributing to their heavy losses was the inexperience of the
troops whom the correspondent likened more to 'militiamen' than trained
soldiers.
Unknown attackers, meanwhile, were reported to have taken the lives of
four civilians in the capital, Mogadishu.
HN/HAR
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